The Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Or what to do when confronted with angry dogs….

This Sunday, May 28, 2006 I was supposed to get up early in the morning and go for a run. I’m recovering from this past Friday’s leg work which included a 375lb leg presses, front squats and a 315 lb dead lift w/o hooks. Needles to say, I was a little sore but nothing serious, just the normal muscle soreness from a good workout.

Back to this morning. I decided to go running/walking at around 1:00 PM. According to my GPS I ended up doing about 4.8 miles. It was a good run (I must admit, running in the middle of the day is a lot tougher, heat and all). I did not fall/trip or hurt myself in any way. But why is my dog’s picture here? Cute huh? Yeah most owners love their dogs, they never bite of course and they are the friendliest creatures on the planet.

This brings me back to my running. While cruising at my running speed, I normally hear the dogs barking as I go on my loop. I’m greeted by their friendly bark as I pass along the back of each home. Never really mindful of them, as they are on the other side of the fence, tending to their owners’ every need. Protecting their owners from strangers. Me!

I had reached ¾s of the way and was on my way back. As usual I heard the dogs barking as I passed along. This time things were a little bit different. The growling and peter patter of paws running was uncanny and very close. As I turned to my left, two dogs had escaped from their back yard and were now aiming to do me harm (the stranger). I quickly picked up some rocks (I’m running on gravel so there’s plenty for everyone). I composed myself and yelled at the top of my lungs (No! Sit, get back! And ready to let them have it they kept going!) The yell was really loud, the two dogs stopped in their tracks and backpedaled but remained outside the fence, growling and barking. At this point their bigger brother managed to squeeze himself out of the gate and came charging at me like there’s no tomorrow. Oh boy, here we go again!. I yelled at the top of my lungs again, this critter came within 8 feet of me and could see his shiny teeth.

My yelling at him stopped him also, he kept his distance and I figured now there were five of us scared. The three dogs, myself and the owner who now was running out of his house to call the dogs back inside. That was a close call. I did stand my ground, the owner apologized, I think he was really the one more scared than anyone else, what if they had bitten me and well you know all the trouble that brings.

I got back home without further excitement, there was a nice young lady that gave me the right away as I crossed the street, but I wonder if she thought, is he sweating or is that something else, I was quite wet you know :-)!

Moral of the story, ………(Php 3:2) and main thing is not to panic!

No animals were hurt in the making of this story, neither was the author.

The Need for Speed...

or why working at high intensity is good for you.

I finally hit the 227lb mark (again) and so I'm getting closer to the
220lb mark. 200lbs is very appealing now! I think our societal
need for speed, wanting everything right now or yesterday plays havoc
with our efforts to loose fat and eat healthy. Or for that matter to
reflect on the important things in life (different for many
individuals). I thought of taking this issue of the need for speed and
see where I could benefit from it.

Come in breakfast. I usually cook my breakfast. I boiled water for green
tea, mix that with the oatmeal, cook the oatmeal in green tea. Add the
ground almonds and flax seed, blueberries, banana and cinnamon powder
(no sugar, naturally sweetened by banana and blueberries). For the last
couple of days after having read and article on breakfast and
preparation strategies I tried the following. I did not cook my oat
meal. I use my coffee grinder and put half a cup of oatmeal in the
grinder and turned it into a fine powder(how much time? 30 seconds). I
ground 20 almonds and mixed those in with the oatmeal (you can make
pancakes out of this also). I placed the oatmeal, almonds, blueberries,
banana, 1 cup of raw milk, flax seeds (ground), cinnamon powder, vanilla
whey (30 some grams) into a blender. In five minutes I was drinking my
breakfast. It was good at about 600+ calories. It actually sustained me
well into 11:00 AM. So that's one application of speed.

Following this theme, I went to gym and I needed to have a short
workout, no longer than 30 minutes total (it was actually 25 minutes).
So speed was of the essence here also. I got on the tread mill and
walked for about 3 minutes, listening to music to pump myself up. After
the warm up, I hit 8 mph. Slowed down to catch my breath for about 90
seconds and hit 10 mph. I did this a total four times and 25 minutes
later I was done, spent, slowed down and staggered off the tread mill. I
burned twice as many calories than if I had run at an even tempo. I know
this because I often use my heart rate monitor to track this efforts.
Cooled off, took a shower and I was done.

One thing about maxing speed on the tread mill. The whole contraption
seems like is going to explode. There is a lot of pounding as I go fast
and some folks in the gym tell me they saw smoke :-). In any case it was
great. I had a slight head ache before going to the gym which went away
after this workout. I need to make sure to go to bed early to recover
from this workout.

I also recorded my food intake and I'm on point. Next workout after
recovery? Dead lifts and squats. The revenge of the barbell!

Baptism by Fire...

or what you learn by running on trails.

This morning I woke up feeling the need for speed. So I was out the door by 6:30 AM.. Stretched for a few minutes, did a five minute walk and began my run. As I've stated before, running on tree bark, soft dirt and gravel is an exhilarating experience. It's also very tough. Heart rate at slow speeds reaches what you would normally attain when going faster on paved roads.

As my run progressed, I zigzagged through the area running on an incline and then back down. As I ran every little nuance of the road made its presence known, I was quickly diaphoresing profusely. I've been on this trail (abandoned railroad track, running parallel to Lambert road in Whittier, Ca) before and I normally ware gloves just in case. This morning feeling so good I made the decision to skip the jacket, long sleeves and gloves. The wisdom of my choice was made apparent quickly as my body temperature raised quicker than you can say one million nanoseconds (or so I thought).

Running has this effect (any form of aerobic activity does I believe) on you. There was a moment when my form was perfect, I was just like a gazelle skipping about little obstacles here and there, speeding up when appropriate and don't forget the zigzagging. There was this moment where I actually fell as if was air born, soaring through the clouds, almost gliding, in total unison with my surroundings, I no longer heard the cars going by on the parallel road.

When flying, make sure your landing gear is working (Lesson number 101).

So as I was saying, I'm running, my form is perfect, I can even hear the theme from Chariots of Fire (I'm moving effortlessly). All of a sudden, BAMH! CRASH! (What's happening here, I'm no longer running vertical). Ooops I'm going horizontal! Wake up you idiot! Pay attention to what you're doing. Oh boy, why is the ground coming up so fast?

I stepped on a twig with my left foot as I effortlessly glided through the trail. The twig which now turned out to be about two feet in length (more like a widow maker if you as me), protruded up on the right side. My right foot gets caught in the process. Yup, I'm going down. That momentous decision to skip the gloves was now not such a good idea. I was no longer running on tree bark, it was all loose gravel on this part of the trail. My left landing gear (left hand), came to the rescue and in an instant I remembered what it was like to be a kid again. As my left hand hit the gravel, then my right hand (water bottle flew somewhere in the vicinity), my left leg was next, a plum of dust engulfed the small patch of trail. I graciously (you have to look good no matter what) skidded across the gravel in what seemed like an eternity.

My hands were on fire. My left leg and upper left arm would be on fire later as I took a shower and the water hit the areas where I had originally only felt a small discomfort.

I gathered myself, regained my composure and used part of the mixture of green tea in the water bottle to cleanse the slight ruddy appearance of my left hand. That's what you do with fire, you douse it with water. I kept going, the burning pain reached a crescendo like a symphonic moment not to be forgotten easily. As I went farther along, everything went back to normal. My heart rate went back to it's normal pace and I started gliding again. This time I was ever so aware of anything remotely in front of me.

The moral of the story: he who thinks is standing (or running), be careful that you may not fall (1Cor 10:12)

Till next time...

Tuesday's activity (May 2, 2006)

Today I mentally prepared for what would be a strenuous workout. It was a full body workout consisting of Squats, dead lifts, negative chin ups, one legged squats, dips with a 45lb plate on my lap, seated rows, seated military presses, push ups and stationary bike for warm up and cool down.

I wrote all the particulars on my training log to see my progress next time around. One thing I'm happy about is the negative chin up. I'm able to sustain a 20+ second hold on the up position with my body weight. This is an improvement from 2.5 seconds when I began doing this form of exercise. Next I have to take a belt to put a weight on it and see how long I can stay up.

I was very tired when done but it sure cleared my mind for the work ahead at the office. I was able to solve a data retrieval problem, I'm happy with that also. My current weights 228. Having come from 284 it sure feels good. I've said before that perhaps I was not that heavy but I was also in denial then :-).

This week constitutes the second week on an eight or twelve week program (new full body program). The previous months I worked on splits of upper and lower body bouts. What I'm doing this time around is two full body workouts and one full blown leg workout every week and a half. My active recovery consists of trail running, treadmill running and/or stretching.

In other news my twin boys are doing pretty good in school. There progress reports show a good number of A grades. Hmmm, it's going to cost me a bit cause I pay them for each A,B,C. Ds and Fs are minus. They are not getting any of the latter ones so I'm ready.

In other areas I'm happy with their progress also. Can't believe they are 17 already. I can still out run them and out lift them though. But they are beginning to catch up. I remember when I could not longer arm wrestle my older son. I stopped because I realized I was going to get hurt (forget about loosing).

I'm lean and strong, healthy and happy!